With Its Primary Opponents Voted Out, What's Next For Labor Unions?

Share:

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with the president of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, about union strategies following the midterm elections.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

We've talked a lot about how last Tuesday's election marked a turning point with the Democrats set to retake control of the House. But we were wondering what it might mean for this country's labor movement. Now, labor leaders are claiming victory after Wisconsin's Republican Governor Scott Walker lost his re-election bid after eight years of fighting to strip unions of their powers. And, in Illinois, Governor Bruce Rauner lost his seat as well. He initiated a lawsuit claiming that mandatory membership dues are unconstitutional for public unions, and the Supreme Court agreed with him earlier this year. As we said, both of those governors have now been voted out of the office.

But we were wondering what, if anything, labor can do to recover the ground it has already lost. So we've called the president of the AFL-CIO, Mr. Richard Trumka, to talk more about this.